Old-fashioned story told with a new app

IF Instagram was a movie, it may well be May We Chat, the erotic coming-of- age drama with oversaturated sepia-toned cinematography as well as a nubile cast of selfie-ready hotties.

Film-critic-turned-writer-director Philip Yung should take that as a compliment though because his sophomore effort is also more than just a sex-ploitative skin flick a la Wilson Chin's commercially successful but shallow Lan Kwai Fong trilogy.

Taking its title from the popular Chinese instant messaging app, WeChat - used more commonly than Whatsapp in Hong Kong and China because it includes a social media platform to share status updates and images - it explores the flip side of contemporary youth culture and goes slightly beyond the cliché of young girls selling their bodies for designer goods to turn the film into a dark crime thriller.